Elbow for pneumatic conveyers.



G. B. LOB.

ELBOW FOR PNEUMATIC GONVEYERS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6, 19.13.

1,108,9 Patented Sept,I,1914\ ltl on'rrn sraa gijgrnnr ensign GUIDG E. LOB, OF CHICAGU, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR Ti) FNEUMTATIO CONVEYOR COMPANY,

or crrrcneo, rnnrlvors.

ELBGW FUR PNEUMATIC CONVEYERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 31, 191d.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that ll, Gnrno E. Lon, a citlzen of the United States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elbows for Pneumatic Conveyers, of which the following is a specification The essential object of this invention is. to provide an improved form of elbow for; pneumatic conveyers. H

It has been found heretofore where ordinary elbows are used to connect two lengths of pipe which happen to be set at an angle to each other that the abrasion of the grain, ashes, and the like will very quickly wear away the elbow. Malt in particular quickly wears holes in the elbows, and manyarticles which it is customary to handle by pneufl matic conveyers destroy the elbows in a very short time even though such articles pro-' duce practically no efi'ect whatsoever upon: the straight lengths of pipe. In order to provide an elbow which will not wear out,, it has been proposed heretofore not only to; make the material .of which the elbow is! formed very much thicker than the straight lengthsof pipe, but also to provide the elbow with. three arms instead of two, thus shaping the elbow practically like a long-sweep T, and in one arm of the 'l' to place a solid plug. The grain or malt would strike this plug and the abrading efiect of the articles handled by the conveyer would be expended upon the solid metalrplu'g rather than uponE p the wall of the elbow, and the plug could be easily renewed or its position changed, from;

time to time, butalthough the metal plugs,

are practically indestructible they havel'not given entire. satisfaction because the elbow.

will wear away at the joint between the plug and the main body of ,the elbow, and for other reasons. In this invention, useis i made of the metal plugs, but the elbow is equipped with other appliances to -.obviate .the difliculties arising from the-use-ot thef oldestyle constructions.

In the drawings, Figure l .is a longitudinal or vertical sectional view of an elbow constructed as hereinafter described; Fig. 2

valv cooperating therewith looking toward the left in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation is a View of the end of the plug and the of the valve ring, at a right angle to Fig. 2; Fig. 4;- is an elevation of the plug detached fromthe rest of the elbow; F 1g. 5 is a cornsweep-T.

pass through arms 3 and 4 of the T which, are, respectively, the arms adjacent to the panipn view to Fig. d looking toward the left insaid figure; and Fig. 6 is aview of the clamp which locks the cap shown'in the upper right-hand corner of Fig. 1.

It is well known in the. art that some pneurnatlc conveyors are operated by suction and others by blowing, and this invention is adapted for use in connection only with the suction-operated conveyers. I

The drawings depict an elbowwhich is used for connecting two lengths of pipe set approxlmately at right angles to each other, but it will be understood that the invention 1s not limited to that specific use, for by changing the shape of the elbow it may be used to connect any two conveyer pipes regardless of the angles at which they are disposed. 1.

The conveyor pi es, not shown, are adapted to'besecured y bolts or screws to the flanges l and 2, and the path of travel of as is customarily used for steam pipe or water pipe, the elbow would be." uickly destroyed or worn out because oft e constant cutting and abrading efi'ect' of the sharpointed articles which are ordinarily handled. As the grain or malt is drawn through the elbow,-it naturally tends to strike the curved wall and to abrade the same, and .it.

is one of the essential objects of this invention so to construct an elbow that this abrading efiect will beentirely overcome.

The elbow is preferably constructed in the shape which steam fitters and manufacturers of pipe fittings ordinarily call a longlhe grain or malt adapted to flanges 1 and 2. Arm 5 of the T is not connected to a conveyer -pipe,.however, but is provided with a flange 6 which would afi'ord the means of connection to a conveyer pipe,

if so desired. i

'llheparts designated by the specific reference numerals 1, 2, 3, 4e, 5, and 6 are all parts of a single integral casting.

lVithin the arm 5 the plug 7 is placed.

As will be clearly evident from Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings, said plug comprises a solid piece of metal, the right-hand end of which is curved. or dished out so as to con- 5 form in curvature and shape to the remainder of the interior of the elbow. The plug 7 is slightly less than the diameter of the arm 5 within which the plug is received, and, hence, an air space 8 isleft 1Q between the plug and the inner surface of the arm 5. At its left-hand end, plug 7 carries a flanged head 9, and this head 9 is provided with ears 10 perforated at 11. Bolts 12, which may be screw-threaded at 5 one end, are received within perforations 11 and within screw-threaded tap h0les in flange 6, and bylsaid bolts 12 the plug 7 can be secured within the arm 5, the parts being so arranged so that a space 13 is left'between flanges 9 and 6. Upon plug 7 at the pointwherethe main body portion of the plu'gisconneeted to the flange 9, is an annular' cylindrical bead 14 which carries a number of projections 15, there being a port 16 between each adjoining pair of projections. 'Encircling the head 14 is a ring or collar "17 which is provided with points 18 projecting out, beyond the periphery or flange 9, and the operator may takehold of on'eor more of the points 18 and thus re-,

volv or partly revolve collar '17 around the plug 7. Said collar carries projections 19,

and between these projections 19 are ports or spaces 20. The projections 19 upon the collar and 15 upon the plug? are each arcu-- ate in shape, and the size of the parts and their arrangement is such that when the? ring 17 is in the position. shown in Fig. 2, each projection 19 will be in registration with a projection 15 and each port 20 Willi be in registration with one of the ports 16,; but if" the ring 17 be given a partial rota tion, each r'ojection 19 will close or partlyclose one o the ports 15. It will beevident,i

- therefore, that the flange llancl rojections 15 in cooperation with collarl "and pro-! ,jections'19 serve as a. valve which 'controls,i within certain limits, theamount'of air'per-j mitted to enter the space 8'. The space 13, 5o must be sufficiently large 'to' permit the collar .17 to move freely therewithin, though, if

I it be desired to fix the collar 17 permanently at any desired position, or in other words to lock the valve, the bolts 12-may be tightened and in that way the collar will be firmly clamped between the flanges 6 and '9 and cannot be moved in either "direction until the bolts 12 are loosened. On the side of the castin opposite arm 5 a perforation 21 is oorcut, which perforation is surrounded'by a, seat 22 and on this seat the cap 23 rests, there being a rubber gasket 24 intermediate theseat and the flange of the cap. The; ca as will be evident from Fig. 1, comprises a flanged portion which rests upon the) The other pivot 32 is encircled by the hinged to what has heretofore been explained, it

malt will be almost entirely overcome and seat 22, and an indented portion 25 which is concavo-convex in shape and which conforms in shape to the interior of "the channel through which the grain or malt must pass. In order to hold the cap 23 in place the clamp 26 is provided. Said clamp is large enough practically to cover over the cap 23 and is provided with an ear or lug 27 perforated at'28'on one side and with a pair of lips 29 on the other side, there be-- ing a crotch 30 between the-lips. On each side of the opening 21 the elbow is provided with ears 31 (one pair only being shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings), which ears are connected by cross bolts or pivots 32. One of said pivotspasses through the perforation 28 in the lug 27, it being understood, of course, that the 111 27 is depressed below the level of themaln body of the clamp 26.

bolt 33, which bolt is likewise received within the crotch 30. The nut 34 screws upon the bolt 33, being turned by the handle or lever 35. When the nut 34 is turned so that it bears upon the lips 29, the clamp 26 will hold the cap 23 firmly in place but when'th'e nut 34; is unscrewed, the cap may be removed. The operator may then easily insert his hand through the perforation 21 so as to remove any dirt or dust that has collected, orfor any other needful purpose.

The use and operation of the device will be largely evident from the foregoing detailed description of parts, but in addition may be stated that when the fan is in operation the grain or malt will be sucked through the elbow in, the direction indicated by the arrows, Fig. 1. The partial vacuum thus created will draw a certain amount of airin through the channel or passageway 8 and 'the amount oflairthus permitted to enter can be readilycontrolled by adjustment of the ring 17. If the parts are turned to the positionwshown'in Fig. 2, the port holes 16 and 20 will be wide open, but if the ring be given a partial rotation, the port holes will be partly closed. As the air enters the interior ofthe elbow, it passes over or around the circular edge of the righthand end ofthe plug 7 and thus forms a cushion of air both upon the curved end of f the plug and upon that part of the main casting of the elbow just above the plug. The grain or malt which is being sucked through will, instead of strikin the plug '7 or the wall of the elbow therea ove', strike upon this cushion of air and this manner the abrasive effect of the moving grain or the force of the moving ain or malt will be largely absorbed by t e cushion of air which passes around the plug 7 and over its edges.

It is obvious that many changes in the mo arm, a ring encircling said plug, andmeans cooperating with said ring, said ring being details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the scope of the invention or of the various claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A device of the character described comprising a member provided with three arms, a plug in one of said arms, there being an air space between the outer surface of said plug. and the inner surface of said adapted to regulate the size of the entrance to said air space, and means to secure said plug upon said member.

2. A device of'the character described comprising a member provided with three arms, a plug in one of said arms, there being an air space between the outer-surface of said plug and the inner surface of said arm, an annular band or bead upon said plug, said bead being formed with ports, a valve adapted to close said ports, and means .for securing said plug upon said member.

3. A device of the character described comprising a member provided with three arms, a plug in one of said arms, there be ing an air space between the outer surface of said plug and the inner surface of said arm, an annular. band or bead upon said plug, said bead'being formed with ports, a ring encircling said plug and riding upon said head, means carried upon said ring and adapted to close said ports, and means for securing said plug upon saidmember.

4. A device of the character described comprising a hollow casting provided with three arms, a plug in one of said arms, there being an air space between the outer surface of said plug and the inner surface of the arm retaining same, ports allowing access of air to said space, means to regulate the size of said ports, and means to secure said plug within said arm.

5. An attachment for pneumatic conveyers comprising a long-sweep T-coupling, a

plug located in one of the arms thereof, there-being an air-space between the outer surface of said plug and the inner surface of the arm within which same is .placed said air-space being unobstructed, said plug and the arm supporting same being flanged, and means to connect said flanges together, there being an unobstructed air space between said flanges.

6. An attachment for pneumatic conveyers comprising a long-sweep T coupling, a plug located in one of the arms thereof, said plug being located in alinement with the path of travel of the grain as same enters the coupling, there being an air space between the outer surface of said plug and the inner surface of the arm within which same is placed, said air space being normally unobstructed, means cooperating with said plug and adapted to obstruct said air space, and means for securing said plug in place,

the inner end of said plug being a curved surface and being adapted to receive the impact of the grain.

7. An attachment for pneumatic conveyers comprising along-sweep T coupling, a plug located in one of the arms thereof, the axis of said plug being in alinement with the path of travel of the grain as same enters the coupling and the ends of said plug being adapted to receive the full force and impact of the moving grain, there being an air space between the outer surface of said plug and the inner surface of the arm. within which same is placed, there being ports which permit air to enter and pass through said space, and means for securing said plug in place.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto aflixed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

GUIDO E.- LOB. 

